The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-08-03
DEATH OF A NOTED GUARD.
Captain Jordan s. McRae, Who was q
Terror to the Prison Convicts.
ICourfar T0uruaI

Captaln OOruan De mCnhcs VINO was y
Terror to the Prison Conyfcts.
Courier JournsLI
CAPTAIN Jordan S. McRae, the most no.
ted guard at the Indiana State Prison
South, died at the guard quarters at the
institution, Tuesday, July 10th. He was
born in Harrison county, Indiana, in 1927.
In the early part of his life he engaged in
steamboatiDg, and is known to all old
river men from Pittsburg to New Orleans,
having acted in the capacity of mate on a
large number of vessels plying the waters
of the Ohio and Mississippi and their tri-
butaTies. HIS wife, who before her mar
sister of Col. w. w. Tuley and Floyd
Tuley, died twelve years since, leaving
him an only daughter, Miss Lizzie McRse,
now young lady of twenty years, who,
with the only surviving brother, Capt.
John McRae, of Harrison county, Indiana.
were with him at the time of his death.
To his daughter, Capt. McRae was most
devo tedly attached, and splenid educa-
ton was given her at the DsPauw Semin-
airy at New Albany. She afterwards
attended the State Normal School, and
adapted herself as a teacher. During the
past school year she had charge of a school
at Elkhart, Ind.
A short time after the death of his wife
he secured
TIE POST ION OF GUARD
at the prison, and it was here that he made
a name that brought him into prominen ce
all over the country. His build was of
extraordinary large proportions, and his
heart was proportionately equal to his
form. In Gemnenor ne was modest, but
always bad q kind word for any one he
was on terms OF acquaintance with. While
his social life was of so easy going turn,
bis business life was exactly the reverse,
and this had the effect OF making him the
terror of every convict within the prison
walls. For five years after becoming a
guard he was stationed in the dollhouse,
and during the time it wss developed that
he was an extraordinary fine shot
with the rifle or pistol. The
west side of the prison grounds
Is inclosed with a rickety plank wall, and
was considered the weakest place about
The prison for escapes, aud was often taken
advantage of by the prisoners. After learn
ing his qualifications, Warden Howard
place dhim in charge of what is known as the
northwest tower, and but few attempts
to scale that wall were afterward made.
at 1910 O'Clock on the afternoon of Nav
q, 1881, Thomas Joseph, lifetime convict
from Salem, Washington county, who,
when he committed his crime came so
near being lynched that he had to be
brought to the prison door by them, climb
ed over the wall and reached the outside.
While running around a small cottage in
the vicinity he was seen by McRae and Or
dered to stop several times, but paid no
attention to the command. When Joseph
reached a point $50 yards from the tower
McRae leveled mis- gun on the fleeing con-
vict and
SHOT HIM DEAD.
At4 o. clock on the afternoon of Novem.
Der 7, 1881, John Crawford, a four-year
man from Vanderburg County, accom-.
panied by a companion, Joseph Burchel,
made an attempt to escape, and was shot
at by McRae, which had the effect Of stop.
ping Burchel Crawford took the same
course as Joseph, and when at nearly the
to the ground, Crawford fell MORALLY
wounded by a bauI from McRse's gun.
On one or two occasions mutlnies &C.
Cured inside theswalls that were gaining
serious aspects. McRae was sent for, and
his mere presence among the revolving
convicts had the effect of driving them
back to their work. His m Workmanship
was so correct that it Is related by him that
while the brick-yard was in operation
near bis station he would have q convict
step off two hundred yards and place tin
pan on a post, and would indicate the
exact spot where he intended placing a
ball, and would never miss his calculation.
In this manner he gained such a reputa-
ton among the convicts that his name was
enough to territy them. He was always
reticent about his exploits, and would
very seldom talk about them, looking at
them in the ght that his duty required
him to take these extreme measures when
necessary. His illness was of short dura-
tion, having only been sick since last
Wednesday, when he was suddenly taken
with vomiting spell, (which developed
in an aggravated case OF cholera morbus,
which caused his death.